Illinois State Museum in Lockport opens exhibit with themes of nostalgia, belonging

The Illinois State Museum opened the “Here, There: New Perspectives on the Collection,” a guest-curated exhibition featuring modern and contemporary artworks by Illinois artists at the Lockport Gallery.

Three guest curators – Mariela Acuña, Sheridan Tucker Anderson and Allison Lacher – were invited to explore and bring a fresh perspective to the Illinois State Museum’s almost 100-year-old collection of Illinois and regional artists, according to a news release announcing the exhibit.

“Our groundwork for this project was to review and identify works by Black, Latine, Asian and LBGTQ+ artists in our collection. This provided the curators a core inventory from which they could ground their research,” Doug Stapleton, curator of art with the ISM, said in the release. “The curators selected artworks that speak to themes of nostalgia, home, belonging and sites of history in American art.”

Visitors are invited to explore the complexities of the museum’s collection voiced by curators from outside the state museum. It is one of several major question-driven initiatives by the ISM to find what stories are forgotten, untold, misrepresented and eager to be heard, according to the release.

“The museum has a truly remarkable collection of around 13.5 million objects that tell the whole story of Illinois. We have collections from anthropology, art, botany, geology, history and zoology that we use for exhibitions and research,” interim ISM Director Jenn Edginton said in the release. “These collections, grown throughout our 147-year history, touch and represent all aspects of life in Illinois through natural science and culture. While a small selection of our collection, the artworks in the exhibit speak to the diverse stories told at the Illinois State Museum.”

This exhibition is made possible through support from the Terra Foundation of American Art. The Terra Foundation supports individuals, organizations and communities to advance expansive understandings of American art, according to the release.

Established in 1978 and headquartered in Chicago, the foundation is committed to fostering cross-cultural dialogues on American art locally, nationally and internationally through its grant program, collection and initiatives, according to the release.

Visit the Illinois State Museum online for more information.

If you go

What: Here, There: New Perspectives from the Collection

Where: Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery

When: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday until Feb. 22

Admission: Free

For more information, call the gallery at 815-838-7400.